With the colder months upon us and the holiday season just around the corner, this can be a wonderful time of the year. However, it is important to take good care of yourself – body, mind, and spirit! So here are some simple tips on helping you stay healthy and happy during a potentially stress-induced festivities.

Stay nourished. The holiday season can be a time of indulgences, like baked goods, breads, cheese, and alcohol. So in preparation for the big festivities, consider reducing stimulants, such as sugar, caffeine, alcohol, simple starches, and other heavy chemically-laden foods. Take a short reprieve by enjoying quality nutrient-dense foods and supplements. A good addition to the holiday regiment is magnesium-packed foods, such as lots of vegetables, legumes, and whole grains, to help maintain a healthy response to stress. If you have a need for an extra calming effect, especially if travelling, consider a magnesium supplement, such as Natural Calm at your local health food store. Using spices, such as garlic, ginger, and peppers, in cooking are a great way to boost the immune system and protect the body against colds in a shorter time span. It is also important to listen to your body and observe how you feel. Make sure to include enough omega-3s in your diet, such as fish, nuts, and seeds, which will help you reduce the amount of inflammation in the body and fight the winter “blues.”

Stay hydrated. This may be a bit redundant, but hydration is essential regardless of the season. It helps control appetite, reduces overindulgences, helps control the metabolism, moisturizes the air in the lungs as well as all cells of the body, and detoxifies, especially with a heavier alcohol intake.

Soothe with warm liquids. Warm tea can be great for a sore throat and cough, breaking a fever, calming nausea and upset stomach, and improving digestion. My go-to choices include mint, ginger, chamomile, green tea, etc. They are delicious with raw honey, lemon, and cinnamon sticks. Other great beverages are warm cider and hot cocoa with almond milk. In addition, this is the ultimate time for delicious soups, which can be prepare with a multitude of choices with lots of vegetables, legumes, grains, and lean proteins.

Take the time to breathe. I find myself reminding my patients of that continuously. Stress often makes us forget to breathe as well as forget how to breathe properly. Consider this breathingexercise: Sit still and tall somewhere comfortable with a neutral spine. Close the eyes and begin breathing through the nose. Inhale for a count of 2; hold the breath in for a count of 1. Exhale gently, counting out for 4; finish by holding the breath out for a count of 1.

Move your body.Exercise is a great way to reduce stress during hectic times, while staying healthy, maintaining weight, increasing energy levels, and improving the mood. During the winter months, you may have options for some fun outdoor activities and sports, such as hiking, ice skating, snowboarding, hockey, and sledding.

Go outside. As the days get shorter and darker and colder, it is important to spend some time outside in the sunshine to increase the vitamin D production. So get outside for 15 minutes a day 3-5 times per week to improve health and mood. Consider changing the light bulbs and in your house to “full spectrum” bulbsand lighting systems (this is great product by Nikken) to mimic natural light. The dietary supplementation of 2,000-4,000 IUs is available in foods, such as shiitake and button mushrooms, fish, cod liver oil, eggs, and cruciferous vegetables.

Explore natural health options to maximize the immune system function that will lead to less stress and better health during the colder months!

Get some sleep. With a busy holiday schedule, sleep is often sacrificed. Time management and discipline are essential in maintaining a consistent sleeping schedule. Aim to get 7-9 hours of sleep to normalize the sleeping pattern and get more energy. “Full spectrum” lighting systems, similar to the one by Nikken, is another great way to help maintain natural circadian rhythms, the cycle of sleeping and waking.

Take a hot bath. Soaking a hot bath once a week with Epsom salt, essential oils (try lavender, eucalyptus, and chamomile), and even baking soda is a great way to relax, calm the mind and body, as well as detoxify from toxins. If you take a bath before bed, it can improve sleep and help you feel energized the next day.

Chiropractic. Keeping the nervous system at optimal function by allowing the body to communicate to the brain appropriately is a vital aspect of spinal and overall health through a natural, effective, drug-free approach to health that promotes natural healing function and potential.. Chiropractic allows the body to release the accumulated physical, mental, and chemical stress and further allows the appropriate alignment and movement in the spine and its structures. Chiropractors work with people of all ages, including newborn babies, pregnant women and children. Talk to your local chiropractor today and start on the path to health to maximize your nervous and immune system function that leads to overall more energy and increased vitality!

Be generous. Giving to others should be a part of our everyday life, yet this tends to be the time that it is the most often remembered. Take the time out to help and nourish others by offering your generosity, not necessarily in terms of material things, but offer your time and volunteer for those who need the help in any shape or form. By nourishing and loving yourself, be grateful for your circumstance and offer your love to others. In addition, accept the help from others because they want to be of service to you as well. This is a season of giving and receiving, so practice both!

More people are approaching health and wellness from a proactive stand-point by decreasing the burdens of modern lifestyle. Chiropractic care, in addition to high quality nutrition, exercise, and sleep, are instrumental in allowing the nervous system to function and perform at an optimal level.

Modern life stressors, shown below, can negatively impact the physiological functions in the body:

Sedentary lifestyle

Poor dietary choices

Poor posture

Chemical toxins

Stress – physical, mental, and emotional

Taking small steps to alter these lifestyle choices will aid in enhancing appropriate body functions. Incorporating chiropractic care restores proper nerve function to strengthen our health. Allowing the communication channels of the nervous system to flow uninhibited is paramount to healthy function.

Doctors of chiropractic adjust subluxations in the specific areas of joint and nerve dysfunction in order to free up the body’s communication channels, thereby offering a natural, effective, drug-free approach to health that promotes natural healing function and potential. Chiropractors work with people of all ages, including newborn babies, pregnant women and children.

Chiropractic goes beyond offering temporary relief from symptoms, it explores the cause of a problem and utilizes a hands-on approach to correcting the cause and enhancing the sense of vitality and well-being in order to get the most out of life each day by committing to a lifestyle of health.

Chiropractic honors the wisdom of the body’s innate ability for self-healing!

This is an interesting anecdote that has been getting a lot of attention on my FaceBook page, but it makes a very valid point on how our priorities when it comes down to our health may be skewed some. Gaining and maintaining optimal health is within your reach.

Your car insurance doesn’t pay for oil changes, but you do them anyway because you know they’re what’s best for your car. Your health insurance doesn’t pay for a gym membership, supplements, bottled water or healthy foods, but many people do those things anyway because they know it’s what’s best for their bodies. The same is true with chiropractic care.

In order to have optimal health, you must have a clear neurological connection between your brain and all the parts of your body. And because the spine and nervous system are so intimately connected, the only way to have that clear brain-body connection, that allows optimal health, giving you the best possible chance at living an optimally happy and vital life, full of purpose…is to have an optimally aligned and functioning spine – and THAT is what chiropractors do!

We help you regain and maintain optimal spinal health, so that you can BE your best, and GIVE your best!

The functionality of our systems is highly dependent on the chemical fluids in our bodies. Each day we introduce more chemicals with additional increased stressors that pose growing demands, causing a higher incidence of chronic diseases. Establishing an ideal pH balance of alkaline and acid foods in the body is essential part of nutrition for optimum health.

A pH of 7.0 is neutral. A pH below 7.0 is acidic. A pH above 7.0 is alkaline. Human blood pH should be slightly alkaline (7.35 – 7.45). Below or above this range means symptoms and disease.

An acidic pH can occur from:

an acid forming diet

emotional stress

toxic overload

auto-immune reactions

and any process that deprives the cells of oxygen and other nutrients.

The body will try to compensate for acidic pH by using alkaline minerals. If the diet does not contain enough minerals to compensate, a build-up of acids in the cells will occur.

An acidic balance will:

decrease the body’s ability to absorb minerals and other nutrients

decrease the energy production in the cells

decrease its ability to repair damaged cells

decrease its ability to detoxify heavy metals

make tumor cells thrive

and make it more susceptible to fatigue and illness.

The natural way to balance the pH in the body is using proper nutrition. And to aid in the process, examine the list of foods below. It is also important to assess the foods that have a tendency toward creating alkaline compounds once digested.

Although, it might seem that citrus fruits would have an acidifying effect on the body, the citric acid they contain actually has an alkalinizing effect in the system. Note that a food’s acid- or alkaline-forming tendency in the body has nothing to do with the actual pH of the food itself. For example, lemons are very acidic; however, the end products they produce after digestion and assimilation are very alkaline, so lemons are alkaline forming in the body. Likewise, meat will test alkaline before digestion, but it leaves very acidic residue in the body, so like nearly all animal products, meat is very acid-forming.

The chemical aspects of emotions affects the pH balance. The alkalinity in the body is increased with meditation, prayer, peace, kindness, and love; whereas the acidity is increased with overwork, anger, fear, jealousy, and stress.
Balancing pH is an full body process through chemical, physical, and emotional aspects of care. The foods we are eating, the toxins we are ingesting, the state of the digestive system and its ability to break down the food, and the emotional state of a person will all affect the optimal health and wellness of the body.The chemical aspects of emotions affects the pH balance. The alkalinity in the body is increased with meditation, prayer, peace, kindness, and love; whereas the acidity is increased with overwork, anger, fear, jealousy, and stress.

Processed industrialized food and the fast-food culture require us to be extremely careful when feeding the children. With the ever-present risk of childhood diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, allergies or worse, it is important to teach children healthy food habits that will last them a lifetime. Pleasing the picky eaters with limited palates may be a challenge for a number of parents, but here are 10 suggestions to help navigate the kitchen and teach the importance of wholesome nutrition to the little ones.

Cook with raw and organic ingredients. Yes, this means cooking, which can be a challenge for busy schedules or less cooking experience. However, more nutritional value and have more control over what you’re eating is a significant trade-off.

Stay away from processed foods as much as possible. If you must do quick meals, get organic ones – at least they will have better ingredients, which are stocked in most grocery stores.

More vegetables. This may be tough for picky eaters, but there are lots of sneaky methods to include vegetables in a child’s diet. Our favorite is to blend them up and put them in with a sauce or soup. Instantly, they’re invisible, and the kids don’t think twice about eating them.

Choose the meat wisely. It is of vital importance of choose the proper type of lean protein that is free of hormones, antibiotics, and toxins.

Don’t keep junk food in the house. If it’s in the house, the kids will find it and eat it.

Pack healthy snacks. When you’re out and your child is suddenly hungry, you will be equipped rather than having to turn to junk- or fast-food. There are many good organic and healthy snacks to choose from these days, like snack bars, apple sauce, cheese, crackers and little squeeze-bottle baby foods.

Eat out less. The trouble with eating in a restaurant is you have no control over the food, and even great restaurants cut costs by using the cheapest ingredients possible.

Drink water. Sweetened drinks and soda lead to major health issues and obesity in children. Kids also need far less milk than American “official” sources say (milk is especially important to choose organic and not overly pasteurized).

Less GMOs. Part of the advantage of buying organic foods is they usually aren’t genetically modified organisms (GMO). There are many negative consequences of our kids eating GMO foods, like developing allergies, resistance to antibiotics, and negatively influencing sexual development. Steer clear of them as much as possible.

Create little sous-chefs. Engaging the kids in choosing, preparing, and cooking the food will increase the interest in their nutrition and will open their minds to what they are eating.

Have family meals. Make an event out of meal-times instead of rushing through them or eating them at different times. This will develop a healthy ritual and perspective around meal times.